In its most recent legislative session, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a bill that enacted a number of changes to the law commonly referred to as the Connecticut Paid Sick Leave Law, which originally went into effect on January 1, 2012, and is codified at Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-57r-w. Connecticut Public Act No. 14-128, which was signed into law on June 6, 2014 and will go into effect on January 1, 2015, changes the mechanism for determining whether a nonmanufacturing business is exempt from providing paid sick leave. The 2012 version of the law required employers with 50 or more employees in Connecticut during any of the previous year’s quarters to provide paid sick leave to qualifying employees. In contrast, under Public Act 14-128, employers must determine if they meet the 50-employee threshold based on the number of employees on their payroll during the week containing October 1, annually.
Additionally, the act precludes employers from taking actions to avoid coverage by the paid sick leave law, including firing, dismissing, or otherwise transferring an employee from one job site to another so that the employer falls below the 50-employee threshold.
Finally, the act alters the timeframes in place for accrual of paid sick leave. Under the 2012 paid sick leave law, an employee must accrue one hour of sick leave for every 40 hours worked per calendar year. Per the new version of the act, employees will accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked during whatever 365-day year the business uses to calculate employee benefits. This change will give employers the freedom to start its “benefit year” on any date, not just January 1.
